Panchang in Midleton, Munster, Ireland Mon 4 Apr 2016

Shiva’s Pradosh puja is done in pradosha, the 3 muhurtas after sunset. Trayodashi runs from 22:37 on Mon 4 Apr to 19:34 on Tue 5 Apr, between the two evenings’ pradosha, touching neither. The Nirnayasindhu then takes the earlier day: Mon 4 Apr. No text giving Pradosh Vrat’s time was found; pradosha is Tithika’s convention.

Pradosh Vrat: every date in Midleton

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 312°–324° is the 27th, Krishna Dwadashi. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 07:00 here. Ekadashi ended at 01:07, before it. Dwadashi ends at 22:37, when the lead reaches 324°. The lead passed 180° at the full moon of 23 Mar, so the Moon is waning: Krishna paksha.

The night of Sun 3 Apr ran from sunset 20:10 Sun to sunrise 07:00, 10 h 50 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 43 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 07:00 to 20:12, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 39 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 20:12 to 06:57 Tue, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 20 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The fixed stars divide the Moon's path into 27 nakshatras of 13°20′, each in 4 padas of 3°20′. Dhanishtha spans 293°20′–306°40′; the Moon entered its pada 4 at 303°20′. It leaves at 08:01, for Shatabhisha.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 350.8° + 306.1° = 656.9°, one full turn and 296.9°. Past the turn, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, it gives the yoga: 293°20′–306°40′ is the 23rd, Shubha. It ends at 22:14, then Shukla.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Dwadashi is Kaulava and the second Taitila. Kaulava runs until 11:57, when the lead reaches 318°; Taitila until 22:37.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 07:00 to 06:57 Tue, so the hours after midnight still belong to Somawara.

An amanta month runs from new moon to new moon and takes its name from the rashi the Sun is in at the new moon that begins it: Kumbha gives Phalguna. The Sun enters Meena on 14 Mar, inside the month. The next new moon, 7 Apr, finds it in Meena and begins Chaitra.

A purnimanta month runs from full moon to full moon, so its waning half comes first. It shares its name with the amanta month that its second half falls in: the new moon of 7 Apr, with the Sun in Meena, begins Chaitra. Until then this Krishna paksha reads Chaitra here, and Phalguna in the amanta count.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 20 Mar 2015, 09:36 Fri. Since then the Sun has moved 375.4° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2072; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1937.